By James Langton

(July 5 – 09:00 ET) – The value of building permits issued in Canada declined 0.8% to $2.9 billion in May. Economists were expecting a 0.2% increase. However the slight decrease was attributable solely to the non-residential sector, which dropped 9.3%. Residential building permits gained 6.7%.

There’s no major economic news in the U.S. today. Reactions to the Tankan Survey and the possibility of more oil from the Saudis is dominating the economic picture south of the border today. Both the central banks of Australia and New Zealand left rates unchanged overnight, the European Central Bank is expected to stand pat tomorrow, too.

In Europe stocks are up on takeover talk in the telecoms. Oils are down however. London’s FTSE is up 16 points to 6,433. The French CAC 40 has gained 32 points to 6,526. In Germany the DAX is up 110 points to 7,054.

Talk that Deutsche Telekom AG could move on either WorldCom Inc. or Sprint Corp. once they call off their megamerger has markets buzzing. Deutsche is also rumoured to be looking at Turkey’s Telsim Mobil, among other companies.

Futures are pointing down in the U.S. after some thin gains earlier. An earnings warning by Computer Associates International Inc. will also slug those stocks.

In Asia overnight stocks were mixed. The Nikkei slipped another 34 points to 17,435. In Hong Kong telecom talk involving Hutchison drove the Hang Seng up 238 points to 16,474.

In other business news, 724 Solutions Inc. has struck a deal with the soon-to-be-merged Grupo Financiero Bancomer and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria to offer wireless services to their 9 million banking customers. No word on the value of the deal.